Recipe: Beef Stew Homemade Dog Food

Mmmm! This dog food recipe looks good enough to eat. In fact, I've tried it! This is a safe and healthy recipe that is made with human-grade ingredients. The delicious aroma will entice virtually any dog.

Homemade dog food takes longer to prepare than commercial diets, but its advantages easily outweigh its drawbacks. When making homemade dog food, you can use the best quality ingredients that you can afford.

You can make organic, all-natural dog food that your Fido will enjoy!

Many commercial diets are made with artificial ingredients, fillers and other junk that does more harm to your pet's body than good. As I'm sure you already know, the top-quality commercial grade dog foods that are made with all-natural and organic ingredients are very pricey.

You can save yourself some money and provide your dog with a high quality diet by making his food in your own kitchen. Oftentimes you can purchase fresh ingredients from your local farmer's market. You may also be able to use food that you grow in your own garden!

Recipe: Beef Stew Homemade Dog Food

Ingredients

1 tablesoon olive oil

1 pound stew beef

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup flour

1 cup chopped carrots

1 cup chopped green beans

1 medium-sized sweet potato

Instructions

This is a very simple recipe to make. The prep work is the hardest part. If you'd like to use a different protein source, just cut it into small chunks about the size of a penny. Prep for this recipe usually takes me about 20 minutes.

First, you'll need to cook the sweet potato in the microwave. Poke holes all over it with a fork and microwave it for about 5 minutes or until the sweet potato is soft. Allow it to cool and then cut the potato into small pieces about the size of a penny.

In a large skillet, add the olive oil and cook the stew beef for about 15 minutes, or until it's well done. As you'll see in my video, you need to move the beef into a bowl and leave the drippings in the skillet.

Leave the drippings on low heat and slowly add the water and the flour. Whisk continuously to create a gravy. You'll also notice that in my video I mention adding additional water if necessary.

You want to have a fairly thin gravy, as the raw vegetables will soak up some of the water as they cook.

Once the gravy is complete, add the stew beef, sweet potato, carrots and green beans. Cover the skillet and cook the beef stew on medium heat for about 15 minutes or until the carrots are soft.

Once this homemade dog food is cool, you can feed it to your pup immediately. You can also store it in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 5 days. This is a great recipe to cook on the weekends, so you can have quick and easy meals for your dog during the work week.

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Samantha’s biggest passion in life is spending time with her Boxer dogs. After she rescued her first Boxer in 2004, Samantha fell in love with the breed and has continued to rescue three other Boxers since then. She enjoys hiking and swimming with her Boxers, Maddie and Chloe.

4 COMMENTS

Are you adding flour for gravy for nutritional value, to soak up the fat or looks? I don’t feed any grain except a little oatmeal as my dog gets GERD. It would work the same and the dog doesn’t care. I’m also wondering about the “cut the meat chunks in penny size pieces”. Do you have a small dog or what is your reasoning? My dog will swallow a 3″x 3″x3″ chunk of meat with no issues so normal stew beef or people bite size would be fine and he’s only 50#. Thanks for the recipes, keep them coming as people are always asking!

Great questions! The flour really doesn’t add any nutritional value, so you could certainly exclude it or substitute some rolled oats instead. Also, we do have a small Beagle mix. She only weighs about 20 pounds. I’m sure she could eat larger chunks of meat, but this makes it easier for her. Our boxer also has very poor dental health making it hard for her to chew. She swallows most food after chewing just a few times, so I like to cut it up to make it easier for her as well. You’re right, larger chunks would work for most dogs and it would cut down on the prep time for the owner!

Actually, there is a lot of information available on the benefits of olive oil for dogs. While coconut oil is also a great choice, olive oil is rich in antioxidants, monounsaturated fats, oleic acid and it even prevents free radical cell oxidation. This oil can help with skin and coat issues, aid in a healthy digestive and immune system, and is great for healthy brain function. It’s actually best to switch the oils that you use in your homemade dog food or treats. Fish oils, coconut oil and olive oil are all great additives. Be sure to consult with your veterinarian before feeding a homemade diet, though.

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